Taking pictures at the Con

[Alfredo]

Hi everybody! Photography has always been a passing hobby of mine. Collecting comics has been in the fore front. Lately they both have been taking up my time since I've been taking pictures at conventions (family gatherings, birthdays, holidays, etc, etc). Right now my main concern is taking better pictures at conventions. Inside the convention hall it's a low light environment and sometimes pictures just don't look right. I use a Canon Rebel 2000 SLR EOS 35mm camera. Help me out guys and girls.

[another view]

Two things that you might want to try...

Faster film - Try some ISO800 film and a fast lens like a 50mm f1.8 if you have it. Depending on the situation, this may be enough for some shots. With a fast lens like this wide open, the depth of field will be shallow so not much will be in focus but sometimes "less is more".

Dragging The Shutter - Our own Photo-John has posted a few examples of this, click here to see one. Basically, the technique is to use a slow shutter speed (try 1/4 sec, but really anything is fair game) and the flash will stop action, but the long shutter speed will let light levels in the background build up. You'll get some blur as you can see so it's a style you might not want to use all the time, but it can be really cool. This will only work if the ambient light level in the room is really low.

Both techniques will take some practice, so don't expect 100% results first time out - but that's part of the fun.

[Alfredo]

Two things that you might want to try...

Faster film - Try some ISO800 film and a fast lens like a 50mm f1.8 if you have it. Depending on the situation, this may be enough for some shots. With a fast lens like this wide open, the depth of field will be shallow so not much will be in focus but sometimes "less is more".

Dragging The Shutter - Our own Photo-John has posted a few examples of this, click here to see one. Basically, the technique is to use a slow shutter speed (try 1/4 sec, but really anything is fair game) and the flash will stop action, but the long shutter speed will let light levels in the background build up. You'll get some blur as you can see so it's a style you might not want to use all the time, but it can be really cool. This will only work if the ambient light level in the room is really low.

Both techniques will take some practice, so don't expect 100% results first time out - but that's part of the fun.

Thanks for advice. The slow shutter technique is cool I don't know if I'll be doing that for the con. Right now I wish I hadn't bought all that 200 film.